A Surprise Nomination, a Publisher's Quandary

By

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg

Updated Oct. 22, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

When Jaimy Gordon's fourth novel, "Lord of Misrule," was chosen as one of five works nominated for a National Book Award in fiction on Oct. 13, it was a spectacular moment for an author who has been writing for decades.

But for the small literary house McPherson & Co. in Kingston, N.Y., the nomination represents a quandary: how many copies should it publish? If it prints too many, McPherson risks drowning in a sea of returned books in three months. If it prints too few, it may miss out on what could be its biggest selling title.

ENLARGE

Jaimy Gordon at her home in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Brian Widdis for The Wall Street Journal

The problem is that "Lord of Misrule," a horse-racing novel set at a half-mile race track in West Virginia in the early 1970s, is still at the printer. The official publication date is Nov. 15, or two days before the fiction winner is announced in New York.

Bruce McPherson, publisher and owner, normally prints 2,000 copies of a new book. However, after the nomination was announced, Barnes & Noble alone wanted 2,000 copies. Mr. McPherson decided to print 8,000. "It's a gamble that I'm not used to taking," he said. All 8,000 are expected to begin shipping Oct. 29.

By his own account, Mr. McPherson specializes in publishing literary authors with modest audiences. Back in 1974, the first book that he published was Ms. Gordon's debut novel, "Shamp of the City-Solo." Like her subsequent two novels, 1990's "She Drove Without Stopping" and 1999's "Bogeywoman," it received good reviews but never found a large audience.

Ms. Gordon, who worked at a racetrack as a groom in West Virginia before she went to graduate school at Brown University in 1970, says she began writing "Lord of Misrule" in the late 1990s but put it down after publishers didn't show enough interest. "I thought it should have been an easy sell, but my agent showed it to six places, and they didn't take it," she says.

Mr. McPherson remained interested, however. "Bruce put the whole thing into motion," Ms. Gordon says. "He said, 'This is your year. You should win the National Book Award.' I just laughed."

The other finalists are Peter Carey's "Parrot and Olivier in America," Nicole Krauss's "Great House," Lionel Shriver's "So Much for That" and Karen Tei Yamashita's "I Hotel." All of the books read by the fiction judges were submitted by their publishers. Laurence Kirshbaum, a New York literary agent, said he thinks Ms. Krauss, the author of "Great House," is the likely front-runner. "The reviews have been very strong, and she is an author who has impacted our culture," he says. Mr. Kirshbaum is unfamiliar with Ms. Gordon's work.

Author Andrei Codrescu, one of the fiction judges, said the committee is still discussing the finalists, and declined to explain how Ms. Gordon's novel was chosen as a finalist. However, he said he has long been an admirer of her work, describing Ms. Gordon as "an underrated great writer who hasn't been talked about very much, partially, I think, because she's shy and doesn't self-market herself. But she has an incredible command of other voices, and a sense of music in language that is unequaled."

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.